1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display device, and more particularly to a liquid crystal display device and a driving method thereof that effectively adjusts to variations in size and/or resolution.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recent advancements in semiconductor technology have allowed development of a variety of electronics devices having small size, thin profile, light weight, low required voltage, and low power consumption. Accordingly, a need for flat panel display devices suitable for these new electronic devices has arisen. In particular, some of the developed flat panel display devices include liquid crystal display (LCD) devices, plasma display panel (PDP) devices, and organic electro-luminescent display (OELD) devices. Of the flat panel display devices, the LCD devices have received the most attention as LCD devices can be made thin and light-weight with relative ease while having small power consumption and low driving voltages.
FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an LCD device of the related art. As shown in FIG. 1, the LCD device of the related art has an LCD panel 110 on which images are displayed, a gate driver 120, and a data driver 130 for driving the LCD panel 110.
The LCD panel 110 has a front substrate and a rear substrate bonded together with a gap therebetween and a liquid crystal layer formed in the gap between the front substrate and the rear substrate. The front substrate is a color filter substrate. The front substrate typically includes red, green, and blue color filter layers for representing colors, a black matrix layer for shielding light between pixel regions, and a common electrode. The rear substrate is typically a thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate. In particular, the TFT array substrate includes a plurality of gate lines 111, a plurality of data lines 112 crossing the gate lines 111, a plurality of pixel electrodes formed at respective pixels at which the gate lines 111 and the data lines 112 cross each other, and a plurality of thin film transistors (TFTs) for transferring image signals from the data lines 112 to the pixel electrodes, respectively.
The gate driver 120 sequentially supplies gate signals to the plurality of gate lines 111. The data driver 130 supplies data signals to the plurality of data lines 112 with picture data voltages allocated to each pixel. The data signals are transferred to the respective pixel electrodes through the data lines 112 and the TFTs that are turned on by the gate signals. Different voltage levels representing the images are applied to the pixel electrodes and the common electrode. The orientation of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer is changed based on these voltage levels. Accordingly, images are displayed by controlling an amount of light that pass through the liquid crystal display panel depending on the changed molecular orientation.
LCD devices with various screen sizes and/or resolutions are required depending on the diverse applications. As the screen size and/or resolution changes, so does the number of the gate lines 111 formed in the LCD panel. Accordingly, the number of the gate channels 121 of a corresponding gate driver also changes. Therefore, in the related art, the design time and manufacturing unit cost increase as the number of the gate channels 121 formed in the gate driver must be changed according to the LCD panel.